A couple months ago I’d chatted with a mom who mentioned a new hair comb she’d heard about that she was thinking of getting. She’d heard it was great at getting tangles out of hair & since her daughter had a very tender head she was wondering if I’d heard of it and knew if it worked. I hadn’t, but it piqued my curiosity. Sadly, however, because I have “mom brain” I quickly forgot the name and sort of forgot about this mystery comb.
Not too long after that I got an ad from Bed Bath & Beyond and I noticed a picture for something called “The Hair Bean.” It was only $9.99 so I figured, why not? This may be what my friend was talking about. So I used my BBB 20% off coupon so I snagged it for about $8.00.
We brought it home and cut it out of its case. One thing they advertise is that it comes with its “very own carrying case with a mirror inside.” That was no biggy to me, but the girls certainly thought it was great! Here’s a picture of the case and the underside of the brush. Yup – it’s shaped like a bean!
Hair Bean’s infomercial says, “Trying to get tangles out of your hair is painful and the more you tug and tear, the more you damage your hair! Are you tired of pulling your hair out? Introducing the Hair Bean™, the pain free way to eliminate tangles without damaging or pulling out a single hair. Whether your hair is thick or thin, wet or dry, curly or straight, the tangles come out easily. The secret is the alternating rows of high and low bristles with Memory Flex Technology that lift and gently separate tangles without pulling.” (You can watch the whole thing here.)
My girls get knots and tangles, but I wouldn’t say extremely bad. Bug, however, has a very tender head, and so brushing or combing her hair isn’t my favorite thing to do sometimes! I bought this with her in mind.
The bristles of the brush are, as they as say, flexible – they are plastic like. And there are 2 different lengths of the bristles. The girls love using it, and it seems to work pretty well. Bug especially likes it. To be honest it reminded me of a brush I’ve used to brush a sheep before! Almost like a pet grooming tool! 🙂 And as you comb it through your hair, it is very loud. It worried me at first that we were ripping hair out of our heads because of the sound it makes. But it makes the sound regardless if there are knots or the hair is tangle free, wet or dry. Because the bristles are rather short, it seems to only comb through the top layer of hair, smoothing the knots out on top, but not underneath. Since the girls have thicker hair we had to brush a bit more to ensure it got all the knots out clear through their hair, and not just on top.
The true test was when I loaned it to our neighbor who’s daughter Miss H. (who you’ve seen in this post) has an extremely tender head and cries any time my friend combs her hair. They said it worked great and she was going to buy one.
A few weeks after using this, one of my readers asked if’ I’d heard of the “Knot Genie.” I hadn’t – but after looking, it appears to be the same type of comb. I looked around and found another one called “Tangle Teezer.”
These both appear to be of the same idea & tout pretty much the same things – pain free combing without breakage. I also came across a review by Beads Braids & Beyond that says they started noticing breakage from using the Tangle Teezer. And my reader that asked me about the Knot Genie said she felt like her daughter might have breakage from using the Knot Genie, and wondered if I knew if it can cause breakage.
Using our Hair Bean, I can’t say one way or the other if it has caused breakage, as my girls have always had hairs that were shorter here and there on their head depending on their age. The claims that these brushes can cause breakage, has made me hyper-alert now though, and so I don’t use the Hair Bean daily on them any more. I find our big wide tooth comb works just as great, but just isn’t “as cute!” We still use it though, just not for every combing. You also can’t use this to “style” your hair like we do. It is simply to get the tangles out.
Hair Bean Cons:
*Odd shape (I’d much rather have a handle to hold onto – but the girls liked it)
*Doesn’t have long bristles that get through thicker hair as well
* Loud when brushing
* Despite the carrying case, it doesn’t fit where I store all my other combs & brushes
* Possible breakage
* May not work as well in other types of hair
Hair Bean Pros:
* Combs hair pretty well without the “pain”
* My girls really loved it – shape, color & case. They agree it didn’t hurt as much as a regular comb
* Price
So my vote: Try the Hair Bean if your daughter has major issues with knots. It does seem to do what it claims. It doesn’t seem to be available from the “As Seen on TV” site any longer – just Bed Bath & Beyond. But use caution if you or your daughter’s hair is prone to breakage. I don’t know about the other 2 combs I mentioned, as I don’t own them. Maybe these are major old news & I’m late to the game! If nothing else, we found the Hair Bean makes an awesome back scratcher! 🙂
If anyone has had any experience with any of these, your feedback is welcome.
The opinions of this post are 100% mine and I was not compensated in any way for this post. I simply bought it to find out if it worked & wanted to share our findings.
My daughter h’s hair that tangles very easily. She also has a tender head. Ibought a brush at Sally’s. called the tangle tamer. It works wonderful. It also combs all the way through the hair. My daughter has very thick hair also.
We have used the Knot Geenie and LOVED it. My Son threw it away so we replaced it with the Hair Bean. The knot Geenies bristles were much stronger and did a lot better job getting the tangles out. The bean still does a good job just not the same as the Geenie.
I have the Knot Genie, and it has definitely helped my daughter get through her hair-brushing with fewer tears. I have the same problem with it not getting all the way through her hair, and she has thin hair! It only works really well after a bath or shower. I find it also causes a lot of frizz if we dry brush it.
As for the breakage- well, my daughter always has breakage from the hairstyles we do, so I can’t say if the brush causes more or not.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts on these!
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. If you are dealing with a tender head with tons of knots, comb the hair wet with conditioner in it! I’m not talking about “leave in conditioner” I mean the real thing. With my crazy curls, I can’t comb my hair dry without dealing with the dreaded frizz, so it only gets combed every couple of days when I wash it. I never have any trouble with tangles hurting because of this trick. I keep a plastic comb in my shower, and after I shampoo my hair, I run conditioner in it and comb it. The tangles come right out.
We do this too Sandy. We keep a wide tooth comb in the shower and while the conditioner is in their hair we comb out their hair. But as we don’t wash their hair daily, they inevitably get knots with their long hair from sleeping, playing, etc. so we thought we’d try out this funky comb to see how it faired compared to just using our wide tooth comb. Because we condition & comb out their hair each time we wash it, that may be why we don’t have “as bad” of knots on the days they haven’t had it washed. But with the length of their hair and them “acting like kids” there are days when I wonder if we’ll ever get a comb through their hair! 🙂
I came across the Knot Genie last year and have to say it is my sanity savoir ! No more nest at the nape of their necks, they brush their hair everyday, no more messy buns to avoid brushing and they actually look presentable.
Knot Genie you saved my sanity. I am not sure about the other brushes but this one is awesome. We all have really thick hair and it works.
I can imagine. My mom got so sick of me screaming about tangles when she was brushing my hair that she cut it shoulder length. I didn’t like it at all. Our deal ever since then was “If I can keep it nice, I can keep it.” and she hasn’t had to touch my hair since.
I’ve got 2 tangle teasers and I should be on commission as I’m always raving about them. One stays in the bag I take to my girls swimming lessons and the other is used in the house. Lots of other parents have been interested in the tangle teaser and even had a go before now. My eldest has very thick hair which seems to tangle easily so before the tangle teaser we had a lot of horrid brushing experiences. I tried all types of combs, with leave-in conditioner, without and we had lots of complaining and crying but the Tangle Teaser resolved that. There is some noise as you describe but I’m not sure if there is more or less breakage with this method than any other. I haven’t seen the other brushes/combs you mention but then we never get anything in the UK first! I might keep an eye out for the Hair Bean although it looks very much like a Tangle Teaser.
I’m curious-have any of you tried the Mebco detangling comb from SAlly’s? I find it a lot easier than my usual wide-toothed comb. My hair loves to tangle (at any length!)
It’s not just this brush causing “breakage and split ends”it’s ANY brush when used on wet hair.
Hair is at it’s most fragile when it is wet. When you brush wet hair it breaks the cuticle and frays the end causing split ends and frizzing.
Wet hair should be combed with a wide tooth comb starting at the ends and working up to the top. Use a detangling spray or better yet use a good conditioner and comb through the hair with the conditioner in it.
I have 4 daughters and I am a hairdresser. I have zero issues with tangles and all my girls have hair past their shoulders.
I completely agree with you on the combing with a wide tooth comb while it’s got conditioner in it. We do that as well. I just wanted to give people a heads up on this if they struggle with kids who have major knots in their hair – regardless of conditioning and such. It does work fairly well when hair is dry, and wanted people to know this might be an option for them! 🙂
I buy this for 2 dollars in dollorama this is not very good its plastic that’s stupid !
I got the hair bean for $1.25 at the dollar store. I love the shape because it is great for holding. My mum said she finds holding onto handles is hard because she keeps dropping the brush. I have thick hair that tangles really easily and this brush is great for it.
They sell the Hair Bean at Dollarama.Only two dollars.